In August, we wrote about how Wendy’s had begun testing a new kind of French fry made from skin-on potatoes and seasoned with sea salt. It looks like the tests were successful because the fast food chain is about to put the fries on the menu nationwide.
According to the AP, the new fries will begin rolling out starting tomorrow:
The new fries are slightly slimmer than the old ones, and crispier because they’re smaller. They will have more salt, a medium size fry goes from 350 milligrams to 500 milligrams, and calories add 10 to 420. The selling price will not change, ranging from 99 cents to about $2. The fries will still come to stores frozen.
In the most recent Zagat survey of fast food restaurants, Wendy’s fries finished fourth behind McDonald’s, Five Guys and In-N-Out Burger.
New Wendy’s fries target foodies with skins, sea salt [ChicagoBreakingNews.com]
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Yuck. I prefer the old fries (I’ve tried the new ones), as the old ones ARE thicker – and that’s what I liked about ‘em.
Thinner & Crisper just = McDonalds.
I like the old ones better too, it sucks that they have skin on them now
Are we talking “natural” as in 7-UP is “all-natural?”
Good comparison. Just like “Natural” 7-UP has HFCS and Citric Acid derived from corn, these fries are probably coated in dextrose (corn!) to keep them from sticking together, and the sea salt may have dextrose (corn again!) as a flowing agent.
“Yeah, right Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.”
That’s what corn reminds me of in this context.
I love Wendy’s fries but I hate crispy fries.
Sad day. I love the Wendy’s fries just the way they are.
Boo, more salt. Wendys’ fries were already unbearably salty.
Depends on your taste, I suppose. I always wind up adding ANOTHER packet of salt to ‘em.
So were their burgers, IMO.
Sea salt is not as salty as table salt, so you do need more of it to make something salty.
You can order them with no salt and salt them yourself.
Well thats the end of me and Wendys..not that I eat fast food often but I wont go anymore. I just dont like Sea Salt
Buy something else besides fries?
Baked Potato perhaps?
I’ll give them a shot. Was out and about yesterday and I stopped at Wendy’s – fries being something I ordered. From the minute I put the first one in my mouth, I said to myself, these fries are horrible – they need to do something. Mcd’s fries are much better. I sure hope they are available soon as I need to fatten up for winter!
MORE salt? I love me some Wendy’s fries, but the last thing they need is more salt.
Maybe it’s just the employees in the WNY area, but sometimes they are like licking a block of salt. They are delicious when I get some that an over ambitious Wendy’s employee hasn’t gotten his salty hands on.
It’s gotta be the way they apply the salt. Sometimes I get fries that taste someone unscrewed the salt-shaker cap, other times I get them that are completely salt-free. Wendy’s seems particular bad at the consistency there, whereas at least McDonald’s gets them within 20% or so of a target.
I don’t like Wendy’s fries because they tend to be soggy, but sea salt isn’t nearly as salty as table salt and Wendy’s seems to think that the “natural” fries will be crispier. I’ll give it a try.
Yeah I’ve never been a huge fan of Wendy’s fries. This can only be an improvement imho.
Score….. Except for a in and out I could have the battle of the fries in my city.
I know me too damn northeast and its lack of in-n-out’s. just typing this makes me want a dd animal style, fries also animal style
I love Wendy’s fries how they are now, but these new ones sound reeeally good.
Fries with the potato skin left on are highly delightful.
Five Guys Fries all the way!
I don’t get this. The fries at the location around here literally taste like peanut oil ONLY. Is this the same at all Five Guys stores?
Which location is yours? I like the one near me. I don’t go very often, but the fries have always been good.
Madison, Wisconsin. I feel kind of bad; my girlfriend loved these fries until I casually mentioned they taste so much like the oil they’re cooked in. Now they’re ruined for her.
I would think a HINT of peanut oil (as the other commenter gets to experience) would be amazing. I wonder if they just change the oil not often enough/too often.
+1
I like the hint of peanut taste on their fries. Also the extra scoop they always throw in the bag. My five guys has a sign showing the name of the farm sourcing the potatoes that day. No secrets, just potatoes cut and fried in oil with S&P.
Raleigh, NC must be a test market because these have been at my nearest Wendy’s for quite a while now. I like these fries a lot, but I do often feel that there is too much salt.
The odd thing about the old fries was, when they were ‘fresh’, they were awesome, but they got ‘old’ fast, and when they did, they were terrible. Yeah, I know, fresh is better anywhere, but the difference just seemed bigger with Wendy’s fries. I could never get enough of new ones, and the old ones were all but unpalatable to me.
It’s the same with McDonald’s fries. When they are piping hot out of the fryer they are delicious, but they quickly become gross as they cool off.
Well yeah, it’s the same with any fries.. I was trying to say it’s worse with Wendy’s. They go from awesome to disgusting pretty quick.
Skin on = win, thinner = lose. Overall, lose.
I love the steak fries. hate the shoestring things.
I think the company likes the thinner ones because they can let them sit around longer without them getting soggy.
So much for eating at Wendy’s ever again. Skin on fries is incredibly disgusting, and it’s getting harder and harder to find places that don’t prepare them in this vile manner.
Natural fries right from the farmland’s of hometown America, with fresh salt from the sea. Just missing words like “organic” and “locally sourced”
I sure hope the commercial features farmers in plaid shirts and denim overalls carrying large baskets of potatoes from the ground onto their pick up truck in slow motion.
The current fries are only good when dipped into a Frosty. As long as the new ones still taste good when dipped into a Frosty, I don’t care.
I’m with you on that. frosty makes fries better
This is good news, their old fries were the worst ever. Checkers having the best fries tied with Chik-Fil-A waffle fries.
I prefer free-range fries.
I have eaten fries at restaurants 5 times since I started weight watchers in 09. I like nathans brand fries from the grocery store freezer section…I bake them and use a little sea salt or cajun seasoning. Or Mcain sweet potato fries. I used to love diner fries…with cheese n gravy! yee haw!
The fry box just says “Natural Cut” so what were the old fry’s being cut by ghosts and psychics or something?
Wendy’s fries were never the best, but they were always good, and at least something different for a change. I always got a cup of the cheese dip for the fries, so made it all worthwhile.
I do not like, have never liked, and never in the future will like fries with skins on them. Most of my friends and family feel the same way. I can understand having a choice of fries for a while as a test maybe, but full-on replacement of their fries with these things? No, I think this will not go well.
I preferred the older, thicker fries, sadly. These are alright, but I liked the size of the others, and they held up to reheating better. Something necessary with the closest fast food half an hour away and someone brings it home occasionally. Reheating these makes them taste just awful. Very disappointed.
I seem to be in the minority, but… I hate fries (or any potato item) with the skins on. It just screams “we’re too lazy to peel the gross, papery skins off our potatoes”.
Change is good, With one BIG issue, they need to cut DOWN on the salt!! Their fries already burn the mouth with salt, NO more salt!!!
If we yell loud enough Wendy’s will listen. When they did away with the Double Stack a few years back I and about a thousand other people complained, which is why the DS is back and the Western Stack is GONE.
I’m from Seattle, the only GOOD fries are from Dicks. Everybody else’s just taste like cardboard to me.
And this makes their fries better? Oh yeah, it had the word “natural” in it so therefor it must be more gooder than the old fries!
I am looking forward to these. In my experience Wendy’s fries are tasteless. Maybe it’s just the Wendy’s I go to, since so many people seem to think their current fries are too salty, but for me, these new fries will be a welcome change (even though I rarely go to Wendy’s anymore).
Hah! that’s funny because the Wendy’s in my city just shut its doors.
Forget Wendy’s. Here’s where I am going…www.heartattackgrill.com
Why are the fries being shipped pre-cut and frozen? Wendy’s already sells baked potatoes, wouldn’t it make sense to just get more potatoes and prep them fresh?
Probably too costly and too time consuming. They would almost have to hire an employee full time who did nothing but cut up potatoes all day, considering the amount of fries that they go through (a large FF would easily take 1, maybe 1.5 full potatoes to make).
Fresh cut fries would also go stale/soggy faster. I’m sure they still have a lot of additives.
Five guys fries are great, but they give you so many that I have taken to asking them to stop the extra scoop into the bag. I have a compulsion to eat everything I’ve paid for, and even with two people, a small order of five guys is too many fries for me, and because they are fresh cut, the ones in the bottom of the cup are soggy once you get to them. Still, they are awesome, and “they give me way too many” is a great complaint.
Getting a little further back to the topic, I’ve tried the new Wendys fries and liked them a lot more than the old.
Wendy’s current fries suck, I welcome our new fry overlords.
mcd’s fries are horrid
Bleh, Hardees did this a few years ago, and I think Arby’s did too. I didn’t like them all that much. When Wendy’s fries are fresh and salty, nothing much can compare to their awesomeness. And yes, I know they are very salty but I like that.
Why are they messing with them? They aren’t going to beat McDonalds, and the other two chains are either regional or nowhere close to widespread.
Doesn’t Carls Jr/Hardees already do that?
They’re nothing to write home about.
I’m glad they are trying something new. Their old fries always seemed soggy to me. Some of the worst fries in fast food
In other news, the City of San Francisco has banned Wendy’s fries unless accompanied by a quart of yoghurt.
I’ve hated Wendy’s fries since I was a little kid back in the late 70′s early 80′s.
Are we sure this fry recipe isn’t just the same one as Arby’s? Remember Wendy’s and Arby’s are owned by the same people.
Arby’s changed their fries probably 10 years ago to “Homestyle” fries. People don’t realize it because the Curly fries are more popular. But I suspect these are now just Arby’s fries, and that we’ll be seeing more crossing between the two brands.
Awesome. I loved it when Jack in the box had these, but they recently went back to the old version and now they suck.
I tried the new fries here in Florida about a month ago.
They didn’t taste any different from normal fries.
Also tried the new “spicy” chicken nuggets, but other than being dyed red, there was nothing spicy about them.
still frozen wtf. In and Out fresh cuts their fries in front of you. Sorry i’ll take them over Wendy’s